


Sebastian's Winter Star Adventure

by websthetics



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Nonbinary Character, Polyamory, Rated T for swearing, btw the enby character has a noun as a name so you know it's real, could arguably be construed as platonic OR pre-relationship, it's the player the player is nonbinary, jump scare in the form of junimos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25567378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/websthetics/pseuds/websthetics
Summary: Sebastian is forced to consider the farmer, as they are his secret friend for winter star.What will he give them? Will they like his gift?Sebastian ends up on an adventure he never could have expected.
Relationships: Leah/Player (Stardew Valley), Sebastian/Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm playing through Stardew for the fourth? Fifth? time and this winter star gift got me thinking...
> 
> Side note: I wrote this all at once it's after midnight and no I'm not proofreading or getting this beta'd SORRY ABOUT TYPOS  
> (I am writer in real life I do not want to have to copyedit my writing that is for fun~)

It was winter. More specifically it was the day that Mayor Lewis sent out the letters of who was going to be your secret giftee for Winter Star.

Of all Pelican Town’s traditions, this was one that Sebastian particularly disliked because he had to figure out what to give to some random person that he didn’t know. Or like. He didn’t really like people.

Sure if it was his mom or Sam he would know what they wanted but everyone else? No way. Last year he had to figure out what to get for that old granny in town? Evelyn? And he just gave her flowers because she tends the town gardens, right? And she crowed over how sweet he was and that she loved the flowers but really it was far more stressful than any holiday was supposed to be.

This year his “secret friend” was the new farmer who had just come to town. He supposed they hadn’t _just_ come to town, as they’d been here for almost a year now. It could be worse, at least he liked the farmer. Fox. Fox was their name.

Sometimes late at night when he was having a smoke by the lake he’d see them come out of that old mine with a backpack full of ores. Sidenote: that backpack must be so heavy? How could they even carry it? They were smaller than him and didn’t look like much but they had to be super strong.

But anyway, they’d approach him with a quiet nod. Then rummage through that backpack and say, “Hey I found this cool rock down there that I think you’d like.”

He’d thank them and they would stand quiet with him for a moment, then, with a wave, turn and head down the mountain back towards their farm.

He looked at the small pile of gems that had accumulated on his nightstand: quartz; aquamarine; and his favorite, the translucent frozen tear. What to get the farmer for Winter Star?

They were incredibly self-sufficient (see: them mining their own ore to make their own equipment??)

Sebastian laid back on his bed to ponder some more. Before he got to know Fox very well, he didn’t think he’d like them at all. They had started coming over a lot in the fall to talk to his mom about construction projects. Every time they came over they brought a basket of blackberries, which his mom and Demetrius went gaga for, though he didn’t much care for fruit.

Sebastian just had to wonder why they were doing that, what were they angling for? By now he knows that they’re just like that; if they have something, they want to share it, no strings attached.

And even though they were visiting to talk to his mom about carpentry stuff, they always took the time to talk to Demetrius in his lab, and Maru if she was there. His room was right underneath, he could hear them.

He didn’t understand how Fox could get along with Demetrius. Demetrius was so often off in his little Demetrius world that he didn’t realize or think about other people’s feelings or experiences. Sebastian has this vast internal emotional world and it so often feels like Demetrius is just blundering into it without watching where he’s going.

But Fox isn’t _like_ Demetrius, they get along with him because they’re interested in everything and they’re a good listener.

Yoba knows Sebastian has been on the other side of Fox’s patient, open face, with those big dark eyes. He distinctly remembers the first day that they were visiting and they dared to come downstairs to his room. How they timidly knocked on his door and waited for him to finish his line of code.

And he was so frustrated with his friends and the lack of respect towards his work and the lack of respect towards his needs for space that it just all came pouring out to Fox.

Afterwards he wondered how he could have shared that stuff with someone he felt he didn’t know that well. He didn’t feel embarrassed though. Fox seemed to invite it. Every time he saw them he felt a warm calm. He started to share other parts of himself with them, his motorcycle, his desires to leave.

He remembered asking them once why they would choose to move here. They answered slowly, as though trying to find the right words, “I needed to connect with life… living things… I guess? When I’m farming I’m making life happen… living things grow. I don’t know. I like farming.”

This gave Sebastian an idea. But also he sighed. He was going to have to talk to Demetrius.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the day of the Feast of Winter Star and Sebastian was nervous. Not for the normal reasons, no, but because for once he was actually excited to give his gift and he wanted it to go over well.

Fox was the last to arrive. He tried not to watch them, then, as he failed spectacularly at that, he tried to watch them surreptitiously.

He watched as they chatted with the various townsfolk. He overheard them talking to Marnie about their new rabbit. He watched them wind their way over to Leah and rummage through their enormous backpack for a package.

Sebastian was too far away to eavesdrop but he saw Leah open the package, her face shining with delight, then she carefully set the package down and threw her arms around Fox. And was that a kiss on the cheek? Fox emerged from the embrace blushing.

Sebastian had heard from Abigail who had heard from her dad that Fox had stopped by to buy a _bouquet_ and he had idly been wondering who they had asked out and apparently _Leah_ was their type? He didn’t know why he was so surprised, it wasn’t like it mattered??

He noticed his family looking at him, and secondarily noticed that he had stood up suddenly without saying anything so he quickly muttered, “I’m just gonna go, um, give my gift.”

Demetrius smiled at him, “Good luck.”

“Thanks...” Sebastian said.

He walked away to the sound of his mom saying, “Seems like you two boys have been getting along better lately.”

He approached Fox, still standing near Leah. He got a whiff of what he supposed was her gift.... was that? Goat cheese? Seemed super gross to him, but then, it wasn’t a gift for him anyway.

He lightly touched Fox on the shoulder and said, “So I guess I’m your secret gift giver this year?”

They turned toward him with a smile and he self-consciously ran a hand through his hair. “Um. It’s over here,” he said, gesturing to the biggest box underneath the tree. The box was truly enormous and he felt even more self conscious about his gift.

As they unwrapped it, he said, “Well, it was the best that I could afford.” He clasped his hands to keep them from shaking.

When they caught sight of what was inside their jaw dropped, they clutched the sides of their face, and began to whisper, “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my _fucking god_!”

Relief passed over Sebastian like a wave and he couldn’t help but grin, “So? You like it?”

“Deluxe Speed-Gro?!?! Where did you even get this? Pierre doesn’t sell it! It must have cost a fortune.”

“Actually, Demetrius and I came up with the formula. It’s taped to the inside of the box, in case you want to make it yourself.”

Fox was more effusive than Sebastian had ever seen, “This is amazing. Now I don’t have to buy fertilizer. I can buy another barn upgrade. Or. Or! I can buy some more livestock. Or keep saving up to repair the bus.”

Sebastian was sort of in a happy daze, but the comment about repairing the bus confused him, “What do you mean repair the bus?”

Fox smiled to themself and considered for a moment but said, “There’s something I want to show you. Meet me by the old community center after the feast?”

“Sure,” he said, though he had no idea what he was getting into.


	3. Chapter 3

As the festival wound down, Sebastian watched Fox saddle up their horse and trot back towards their farm. He wondered if he should follow them, but they said to meet by the community center, so he walked there instead.

He waited outside, not wanting to enter the dilapidated building by himself. He shivered a bit. From nerves of course, he was never cold. He wasn’t cold. He wasn’t.

He heard Fox before he saw them, the telltale shuffle of hooves on snow. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I just had to grab some stuff.” They dismounted and patted their horse, “Hold on Pikachu, we’ll be back in a bit.”

Sebastian couldn’t help but laugh, “You named your horse Pikachu?”

“It’s a perfectly respectable name!” they retorted, then pushed the dilapidated door open with suspicious familiarity.

The inside of the building was more worn down than Sebastian anticipated, floorboards peeling up and dead weeds tangled everywhere. He felt a strange eeriness, as though they were being watched.

The silence felt unnatural, which was odd considering how much he appreciated a good silence. “So you and Leah are a thing now?” he blurted out without thinking, just to fill the quiet.  _ Yikes,  _ he thought to himself.

They shrugged as they picked their way across the hazardous floor, “I guess. We have a lot in common and I like spending time with her.”

Sebastian followed them and swallowed the realization that he didn’t have things in common with Fox like Leah did.

They continued, “But it’s not a big deal. I’m polyamorous and just want to make connections with other people, to appreciate the person I’m with in any given moment. Do you ever feel like your capacity for love just grows and grows? Like it can’t be limited?”

“Not really,” Sebastian felt like he was seeing some part of Fox that he hadn’t before, and a part that kind of confused him.

“Oh sorry, of course you wouldn’t. Forgot who I was talking to, I guess.”

Sebastian wasn’t sure if that was an insult, “What are you insinuating about me?”

“Just that people are different. I may like to connect with other people but I know you don’t as much. You have a few close friends. And you also focus a lot on your internal landscape. I really admire that about you. I don’t know if there’s anyone else in town who I can just be quiet with.”

Sebastian’s uncertainty melted away, “So it’s like, different people bring out different aspects of you? I can see that.”

Fox just smiled at him and turned into a room. It appeared to be a kitchen pantry but was so broken down that it was barely recognizable. “I haven’t shown this to anyone else so I’m trusting you here, okay?”

“Okay.” Sebastian braced himself to ask the only thing on his mind, “Why me though?”

Fox took a deep breath and sat down on the floor. “It’s hard for me to explain my own impulses, but I guess I understand how hard it must have been to work with Demetrius, just to make a gift for me.”

Sebastian shrugged, uncomfortable with the candidness of the topic, “He’s not a bad person, he just doesn’t get me.”

“I know,” said Fox, and Sebastian saw the understanding in their eyes. “And I guess I wanted to show you that there’s more to this valley than there seems to be.”

At that, Fox rummaged through their always-present backpack and pulled out what seemed to be an old sheet. They laid it on the floor and put upon it two jugs of milk and several eggs.

“What’s this for?” Sebastian asked as Fox began to tie the sheet up into a bundle.

“Shhhh, just wait and watch.”

Fox stood, taking a few steps away from the bundle. For a moment it seemed as though nothing would happen. Then, there was a blinding flash of light and several dozen round creatures were bouncing up and down in the room.

Sebastian was too shocked to do anything except grab the back of Fox’s shirt and whisper, “Fuck, shit, what the fuck!! Fox are you trying to murder me?!”

“Shhh! Just listen!”

Sebastian was too distracted running through possibilities in his mind. He may have flaws but he was a self aware man. He knew his weaknesses. One of which was weakness. Physical weakness. And he knew that if these things were going to attack, he would not be able to defend himself, but Fox might have a fighting chance. He gripped their shirt even tighter.

But then he began to listen and it broke through his internal calculations. These… things… were not aggressive. They appeared to be singing.

It was a song like none other Sebastian had ever heard. It sounded like the wind through the branches. Or like birds chirping. Or rather all the sounds of the forest in tandem.

Fox was listening intently and it made Sebastian wonder, “Fox, can you…  _ understand them _ ?”

“Yeah,” they said in a low voice. “They’re singing about how the trees moved into this building and they did too, because they go wherever the trees go.”

All at once, the song came to an end and there was another big flash. All the creatures vanished, save one, which was dragging the bundle out of the room. And the room… it was no longer the vague impression of a pantry with broken shelves but seemed to be an entirely new room.

Sebastian found himself without words but struggled to ask anyway. “Please explain…” he trailed off and gestured vaguely to the room. And the least relevant question was somehow all he could ask, “ _ Why can you understand them? _ ”

“Oh. Um. The wizard gave me a potion. It was right after I moved here.”

“You just took a potion that a random wizard gave you?”

Fox shrugged, “Yeah. It was really trippy.”

“Okay fair. I guess I would too.”

Fox rolled their eyes at that, then said, “Well I guess there go all my plans of what to do with the money I’ve saved.”

“What?” Sebastian remained in the realm of severely confused.

“Oh. The junimos said they would fix my greenhouse but that means I have to go to the sewers tomorrow and buy sprinklers for it.”

“Uh. What? Nothing that you’re saying is clarifying anything.”

“Um. Junimos are the cute little forest spirits we just saw. Also there’s a shadow guy, Krobus, who lives in the sewers and sells sprinklers.”

“Why are you buying sprinklers from a shadow guy in the sewers?”

“They’re really good sprinklers!” Fox said defensively.

“Okay. Okay,” Sebastian said, coming to a conclusion. “This is all way over my head and I need to, like, I don’t know, go to sleep.”

“Oh. Okay. Shall we go?” asked Fox, leading the way out.

If Sebastian started to ramble a bit it’s just because he had absolutely lost every marble, but it’s fine. “Here I was, I was going to ask if you wanted to play Solarian Chronicles with me and Sam But it Turns Out that you have your own Real Life Adventure and you don’t need to play a Fictional One.”

“Hey! I still want to play Solarian Chronicles with you! My life is exactly the same, you just know more about it now.”

“You know Fox, I thought you were normal-weird, but it turns out that you’re weird-weird.”

Fox looked a little hurt and said quietly, “I’m sorry, okay. I shouldn’t have shown you this.”

Sebastian needed to fix this, pronto. “No! It’s just a lot to take in and I feel like I’m losing my mind. I still--” where was he going with this sentence?  _ I still care about you _ ?  _ I still love you _ ?! What the fuck. He really was losing his mind. “You’re still my friend. I just probably need to be alone right now. To process things.”

“Oh. I understand now. I felt the same way when I first found out about the junimos. I probably should have warned you, but I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

They were at the door now. “Yeah, no, I wouldn’t have.” Sebastian took a deep breath, “But you’ll come play Solarian Chronicles with us, yeah?”

Fox grimaced a bit, “I’ll probably be busy until like the second week of spring? With planting? But yeah.”

Sebastian felt the cold air outside bringing him more to himself. It was snowing again. He smiled, “I’ll see you then.”

Fox gestured to their horse, “Are you sure you don’t want a ride home?”

“No, I could use the walk.”

“See you around, then,” Fox said as they mounted up.

Sebastian watched them ride away. Even with all the bewildering events of this night he felt calm from having been with Fox. He didn’t really understand how a person could make him feel calm instead of anxious, but, as he breathed in the cold, he decided not to question things for once and just appreciate the ways in which Fox was in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I fully intend to write a fic about what happened with Leah because it's adorable, she's adorable  
> *griffin mcelroy voice* MY WIIIIIFE  
> (I've already married Leah before tho so this time I WILL marry Sebastian. HE CUTE. Me: a tragic bisexual)
> 
> 2\. Krobus sells 1 (one) iridium sprinkler on Fridays for 10,000 gold. So if you don't know now you know
> 
> 3\. Missing dialog:  
> "Why do they need eggs and milk?"  
> "I don't know. Maybe they like to eat omelets."
> 
> 4\. If you liked this *grabby hands* gimme kudos


End file.
